Definitions of the phrase ultima thule range from “the most distant goal of human endeavor” to “the acme” to “a land remote beyond reckoning.” Davis McCombs takes us both above and below ground and back and forth in time in the cave country of Southcentral Kentucky in this collection of poetry, which concerns itself with all of those things. The poems in Ultima Thule have a deep connection with nature and a strong awareness of the layers of time that a place can accumulate. The first section is in the voice of Stephen Bishop, an African-American slave who served as a cave guide in the 1800s. McCombs also has worked as a guide at Mammoth, and the poems told in a more autobiographical voice explore the separateness and yet interdependence of the world below and the world above, the intertwining of past and present, and the role of man today in dealing with history.